Cart

Read Next

While your first instinct when you feel a cold coming on might be to down some Dayquil and sip some orange juice, science suggests something of a different – arguably more enjoyable – fix.

According to research on the topic, it turns out that sex, of all things, is actually an effective way to get your immune system revved up. How, you ask? It all comes down to an increase in immunoglobulin A (IgA), an antibody which increases your body’s resistance to things like the common cold and fends off infection, as Debby Herbenick, Ph.D., author of Because It Feels Good, explained in an interview with Women’s Health.

To further confirm that notion, there was actually a study conducted by Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania where researchers found that having sex once or twice a week could boost IgA by up to 30 percent.

Now, while we can’t say for sure that getting busy between the sheets is going to help you totally avoid that office bout of the flu – eek – we can at least say it’s a more fun preventative measure than having to wash your hands literally all. the. time. (But also, like, keep washing your hands.)